But she quickly untied it and focused on the task at hand. Virtuoso had learned at a very young age not to get her hopes up when there was any measure of uncertainty. She would earn the right to stand by Prince Gin’s side. She would make sure there was no room for chance.
The new ryuu stood before her, already bruised and exhausted from loading the ship and from the hour of training she’d already unleashed upon them. A large wave rocked the ship violently, and some of the recruits almost fell over.
“Are you tired?” Virtuoso asked, hands on her hips.
“No, Your Honor,” they replied despite being soaked through with sweat and the salt water that had come from the last wave.
“Good. Because I’m not even close to finished with you.” Besides making herself indispensable, it was also critical to the Dragon Prince’s plans that he amass the largest army possible. The more soldiers Prince Gin could count on, the better. “After you’ve mastered the basics, you will each begin to discover what your specialty is. If you were an excellent swimmer as a taiga, your ryuu ability may manifest itself as control of the water. If you used to tend the stables as an apprentice, perhaps your ryuu ability will be communicating with animals. But first, let’s review what you’ve learned.”
She looked at Chainbreaker, a brute of a man who was strong but not the most accurate. She pointed at a straw-stuffed dummy on the other side of the deck and then at the racks of knives next to the recruits.
“Attack the enemy, as I’ve taught you, but this time, you must also avoid me.” Virtuoso stepped into the center of the deck, in the direct path between the knives and the dummy. He’d have to arc the knives around her to get to the target.
Chainbreaker cracked his knuckles and stepped forward. He squinted his eyes until they were the size of pinheads, concentrating on the green particles in the air. Virtuoso watched as they obeyed him, turning into small hands. He sent them to the rack, and each nebulous hand latched onto a dagger. He glanced at her and the dummy far on the other side of the deck.
“Do it,” Virtuoso said.
She pretended not to be worried. It was important to put on a cold, hard exterior, especially to counteract the fact that she was half the age of many of these warriors. But the truth was, she’d never taught anyone else how to use ryuu magic before. All Prince Gin’s soldiers had learned together, fumbling through it in their refugee camp in the mountains of Shinowana.
And yet, the future of the Dragon Prince’s revolution rested on Virtuoso’s shoulders. She had to make proper ryuu of these new recruits.
Chainbreaker eyed the dummy behind Virtuoso one more time. She held her breath.
Several dozen blades launched themselves across the deck, whizzing around her. The fabric of Virtuoso’s hood rippled around her face, and her insides flipped at every single knife. It took effort not to grip the railing to steady herself.
The blades embedded themselves in the dummy’s torso, plus one dagger directly in the middle of its forehead.
Not a single piece of Virtuoso’s cloak had been nicked.
She let out a silent exhale and hurried to put on her mask of unflappability again.
“Acceptable,” she said. “Of course, I learned those skills within the first ten minutes of being a ryuu.” It came out a little more loudly—and cruelly—than she’d meant it to.
But Chainbreaker nodded and returned to the other recruits. Taigas were used to harsh training.
Virtuoso nodded at a woman. “Coyote, it’s your turn.”
She stepped up. Her jaw was set hard, and there was fire and challenge in her eyes. Without waiting for Virtuoso’s signal, she set the green particles upon the knives embedded in the dummy’s body. The daggers dislodged from the straw and flung themselves past Virtuoso to the rack, where they executed flip turns as if they were synchronized boomerangs. Then they hurled themselves back past Virtuoso, whirling so fast, they whistled, and lodged into the dummy’s torso in a straight line down the center. The fire of ambition flared hotter in Coyote’s eyes.
Underneath her hood, Virtuoso smiled. This was a good start. Very good. Prince Gin, she hoped, would be pleased.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
There were plenty of skills that Daemon was mediocre at, but stealth was not one of them. When he was a toddler in Takish Gorge, he was often tasked with catching foxes, raccoons, and other prey from the trees. The pack would identify a part of the forest for hunting, Daemon riding on the back of the mother wolf, and when they arrived, he would climb silently up into trees, aware of every twig or leaf that could brush against him and sound an alarm to his prey waiting above.
The element of surprise was always helpful. But sometimes, trickery was also required, some way to draw a weaker or more curious member of a raccoon family away from the others, before pouncing and knocking him out of the tree to the waiting pack below.
It was these skills that Daemon called upon now. He smiled at the chance to do something he was actually good at.
On the main deck, Virtuoso trained the new recruits. Daemon had listened in but quickly moved on. It was difficult to understand what was happening without actually seeing it, but going onto the main deck itself was out of the question with so many ryuu up there.
Acquiring food was a priority, but that ought to be easy enough. Sora had come onto the ship in a barrel of oranges, and there were more barrels and crates of provisions in that cargo hold close to the galley. Daemon would pilfer some supplies on the way back to their own hold, but not yet. He didn’t want his pockets laden with food while he tackled the challenge Sora had given him—acquiring information on Prince Gin’s plans.
Daemon made his way to the deck on which the captain’s quarters were located. If I can get inside, I can look for maps and notes. That was probably the most useful information he could contribute to the mission.
But how would he get Prince Gin out of his cabin?
It would be dinnertime soon. Daemon could stay hidden and wait for the prince to get hungry . . .
Except captains usually had their meals brought to them, didn’t they?
Ugh. There’s no way the Dragon Prince is going to eat with the rest of the crew. Daemon racked his brain for other ideas. He kept coming up with the same conclusion—he had to draw him out.
Not in person, though. Prince Gin would probably recognize that Daemon didn’t belong here. Unless it was possible he could be mistaken for one of the new recruits?
Still too risky. Daemon didn’t know if he’d be able to fend off the Dragon Prince’s hypnosis again. Plus, if he got caught, so would Sora.
However, there was one trick from Daemon’s wolf cub days that might work here. One or two wolves would do something to draw out the prey from its hiding spot. The prey would be focused on the source of the distraction, and the other wolves would pounce on it from another side.
Of course, Daemon didn’t have a pack with him. He had only himself.
I can play the other roles, though.
He stepped out of the shadows to knock on the door of the captain’s quarters. But he’d only raised his arm when someone climbed down the ladder from above deck and said, “Hey, what are you doing?”
Daemon whirled around, his heart in his throat. The ryuu looked at him suspiciously.
If the first strategy during a hunt goes wrong, don’t panic. Adjust and find a different way to get your prey.